


Flatsharing

by orphan_account



Category: Downton Abbey
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Christmas Fluff, M/M, Modern AU, it is set in venice because of reasons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-24
Updated: 2014-12-24
Packaged: 2018-03-03 05:59:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2840621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thomas, Jimmy and Alfred are university students who share a flat<br/>Christmas ensues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flatsharing

**Author's Note:**

> My first fanfiction, please don't kill me.  
> People on tumblr were so nice, I thought I might as well post it on a proper website.
> 
> Enjoy, hopefully!

"I'm turning the heating off", Alfred said groggily, heading towards his room.

Jimmy rolled his eyes, which made Thomas smile. The three of them had been sharing a flat for the last three months, and they had begun having inside jokes, one of them being the tall boy's passion for sleeping and -apparently- seeing them freeze to death in  their own home.

 

"That guy is a sadist", Jimmy complained as he heard the door close and the bed creak under Alfred's weight.

Thomas only answered with a "hmm", as his attention had immediately turned back to his textbook. The exams were close, and he was going to have to excel... he didn't usually bother studying too much, his daily classes being easy enough to navigate without particular effort, but that was a completely different matter: if he wanted to keep his scholarship, his grades needed to be outstanding.

 

Jimmy shuffled on the sofa, where he was drawing a very detailed dragon and a knight who lookes suspiciously like himself.

He peered at his flatmate, hoping he'd feel his stare and look at him.

No such luck, as the older boy kept on reading and copying notes.

"Hot chocolate?" he offered hopefully, knowing that it was a surefire way of obtaining Thomas' attention.

It worked.

Thomas closed his book, stretched and nodded with a smile.

 

****

It was early. Too early.

Well, it was 7.30 am, but it was definitely too early for Jimmy.

He got out of bed with a groan, and headed towards the kitchen. 

 

"Good morning", Thomas greeted him, his dark hair infuriatingly well-combed and his eyes entirely free of bags. The exact opposite of the younger student, whose blond locks were messy and whose dark circles made him look like an endangred species of bear.

"Oh yes, it's Monday", he went on, smiling in what he hoped wasn't a too soppy fashion. Thomas had been trying to hide his feeligs for Jimmy, ever since the kissing débacle, but he wasn't sure to be managing too well.

"Fucking Mondays and fucking artistic anatomy", the other boy muttered darkly, reaching into the cupboard for the sliced bread and not finding any.

Thomas was observing him, taking mental note of the absolutely adorable pout Jimmy was wearing.

An emotionless "I'm out of bread" earned an affectionate "feel free to have some of mine". It made Jimmy smile (weakly, of course, he didn't have the necessary energy to do anything properly before ten in the morning).

 

******

 

Jimmy had to run to catch the ferry, as if the day hadn't already started abysmally enough.

 

Out of breath, he slipped through the entrance gates somebody conveniently managed to open a few moments before, and sneaked into the crowded boat.

An old lady poked his backpack twice, then complained loudly about "these tourists and their rucksacks". Jimmy sighed and slipped it off, placing it on the floor. Fucking old ladies.

 

When the ferry reached his stop, the boy slipped out and strolled towards the university, his face hidden between the scarf and his wooly hat. 

It was cold, and damp, and the tide was very high. He splashed about as he walked, shuddering when the dirty lagoon water reached his jeans.

 

One bridge, two bridges, and there was the doorway. 

He entered the hall, walked along the chloister and up the stairs, eventually reaching the room where the class was to take place. 

It was pretty crowded already, but the found a desk without surrounding people and occupied it. He was not a fan of people.

...well, untrue, he was a fan of few people. (One person, if he was being completely honest with himself, but honesty wasn't his strong suit).

 

The teacher arrived a handful of minutes later, and began explaining the day's topic. Anatomy of the pelvis.

Jimmy tried really hard to pay attention, but his mind wandered of its own accord to a subject that was quite a bit more fascinating. A snarky subject with a ridiculously handsome face and an old-fashioned hairstyle that oddly complimented its features.

A subject whose surname was Barrow.

 

Days, months, years seemed to pass (it was actually a small number of hours), until the teacher dismissed his students. 

Jimmy sighed with relief, wore his coat, scarf and hat, and headed home, craving some time alone: somebody had sat next to him eventually, and had kept on a steady flow of chatter that didn't allow Jimmy's thoughts to focus on either the lesson or his flatmate.

Not that he wanted to think about him.

Why would he.

 

*****

 

It was late, they agreed.

They slipped under the respective covers, in their respective beds.

The third roommate was away for the weekend, so the room was entirely for Jimmy and Thomas that night.

 

"Ugh, Christmas is going to be absolutely rubbish this year", the younger boy complained, after a few moments of silence. He wasn't sleepy, to be honest, so he shared the first thought that popped into his head

"I agree. Not that it is usually particularly pleasant", Thomas remarked bitterly.

"You don't like Christmas, you Grinch?" 

"If you're going to compare my person to horrible festive movies I'm going to pretend to be asleep."

 

Beat.

 

"...so /why/ don't you like Chrismas?"

Thomas rolled his eyes in the darkness. He had hoped Jimmy would have dropped the subject, but no such luck.

"Do you know why do I need the scholarship so badly?" He waited for an answer that did not come, but the heard a frushing sound that could only have been the other boy nodding. "That's because my parents have decided to cut me off, because they do not approve of my moral conduct. Christmas is supposed to be about family, so it's quite pointless to me." He concluded coolly.

 

Jimmy remained still, Thomas having never been one for sharing details about his personal life. He felt oddly proud of having managed to get some information about the chap, but his heart broke at the thought of a young Thomas left to his own devices.

He made his mind up.

"Would you... would you come to my house for the 25th?" he blurted out.

Silence.

"As I said, it's going to be awful. You're my friend, why don't we help each other out a bit?"

 

*****

Christmas day found Jimmy in a state of almost anxiety, half regret for asking Thomas to come and half elation because he hadn't seen his friend for days, and he had grown used to talking to him daily.

Okay, they texted.

Okay, they texted often.

But still, it wasn't the same as having him there in the flesh... although why, Jimmy didn't know nor cared to find out.

 

So, Christmas day. Thomas woke up early and dressed carefully in the clothes he'd picked the night before.

He had spent the previous days in the flat, as he head no family to go back to. He had been lonely, not that he was going to admit it to anyone but himself... but lonely he had been.

 

It was therefore with trepidation that he put on his pinstriped suit and his crispest white shirt.

 

He got to the station to early, holding a bag filled with packages for the various members of Jimmy's family. It was mostly chocolate, because well, that't the safest bet, and he didn't much care for the idea of getting an inappropriate present.

Thomas found a seat easily in the half-full train, hung his coat and stetched his legs, staring out of the window and trying to relax. 

 

An hour or so later, the jumped off and scanned the platform for signs of his flatmate. It didn't take long for him to spot the blond curly head, and he fought back a smile at the sight of the -itchy, by the look of it- Christmas sweater Jimmy was wearing.

"Merry Christmas!", the wool-clad figured beamed. 

"Hello", Thomas simply answered, following him to the car. 

"Sorry about the mess," Jimmy smiled apologetically "this is actually my mother's".

Thomas shrugged "it's not like your part of the bedroom is the epitome of tidiness", he teased lightly, making the other blush a bit.

 

In fifteen minutes, they navigated the busy streets of the small city centre, teeming with Chrismas lunch-goers, and arrived to Jimmy's grandparents' house.

 

It was a quite unassuming flat, Thomas noted, filled to the brim with knick-knacks and old furniture. But it smelled of Christmas.

Jimmy led the way to the kitchen, where a small group of people was gathered. 

The host introduced his friend to his parents and grandparents, who welcomed the older boy warmly and with a few more kisses on the cheek than he was comfortable with.

"We had been waiting for you two," granny Kent eventually exclaimed. "Come on, take a seat!" she urged, pointing at the adjacent dining room, where a big table was standing, covered in festive decorations.

 

Thomas sat between Jimmy and his grandfather, who immediately began saying grace. 

Thomas looked at his other neighbour, slightly distressed, finding relief in seeing him grinning back secretly, decidedly not praying. 

"Is it just for Christmas or..?" he whispered from the side of his mouth. "Or," Jimmy answered "Every. Time."

The family didn't seem to notice the exchange, not they appeared to care whether or not their guest was interested in thanking the Lord for the food they were about to eat.

Granny Kent filled Thomas' plate twice as full as the others', but he didn't complain. It had been a long time since he last ate decent food; being a struggling  university student implied his feeding on the cheapest food he could get, and fancy was decidedly not an adjective to describe his everyday meals.

 

Ah he stabbed the first mouthful of roast, Jimmy's grandfather made a remark about politics to his son, and Thomas pretended not to noticed. He chewed, swallowes, and warmly praised the cook, earning a satisfies grin from the two women at the table.

 

But the old man didn't give up, oh no... if anything, he became more insistent and loud. His opiniond clashed with everything Thomas believed. He tried, he tried quite hard to distract himself, but eventually he burst and made a polite -though critic- remark.

It was the beginning of the end.

 

A couple of hours, a few glasses of wine, and a good shouting later, Thomas slumped back into his chair. "Believe what you like, but still you're wrong", he muttered to himself.

Jimmy smirked and laid his hand on his friend's arm. "Shall we go outside and get some air?", he suggested casually. 

 

Outside there was a small garden, evidently shared by all the people living in the block of flats. It wasn't a particularly well-kept area, but there were both a bench and cool air, and that was good enough.

 

"So, how did you enjoy debating with the old man?" Jimmy asked, looking into the distance to the busy road that stratched in front of them (hardly romantic, he noted casually somewhere in the back of his brain). 

"I... I suppose I am sorry", Thomas apologized.

"What for? No, no, thank you! He loves arguing, and he usually only has father as an opponent, but he isn't a man of many words", the blond chucked.

 

Thomas breathed a sigh of relief, and reached to the bag he'd brought outside.

"Here, open this" he instructed, and handed a big flat package over to Jimmy, who looked adequately embarrassed; he eventually made his mind up and ripped the red paper apart, revealing...

"This... this cost a pretty penny, Thomas. You shouldn't have". It was a photography book, the catalogue of an exhibition they had visited together a couple of months before, and that Jimmy had liked immensely.

"Consider it both and apology for my behaviour at lunch and a thank you for inviting me to come over. This has been the most pleasant Christmas in... a long time", he smiled sheepishly.

That was a cute smile.

 

...cute? Jimmy asked himself, puzzled. He looked at the book, the  at Thomas, then at the book again and back at Thomas. He stared quite a bit, until the older boy took notice of it.

"Something the matter?" he enquired, confused.

"No, not as such".

"Then care to share your thoughts?" Thomas asked, hopeful.

"I..." Jimmy shuffled on the sightly damp bench, regretting what he'd set his mind to do. "You look cute when you smile like that".

 

Thomas' eyes widened, then some thought or the other crossed his mind that made him change his expression; it went from the early stages of a warm smile to something else entirely, an almost pained look taking over his countenance.

He didn't say anything, but averted his gaze from Jimmy and turned back to observing the road.

 

"Your turn to share, mate", Jimmy grinned to hide his worry.

"Trust me, you don't want to know".

"I'm telling you I do!" the other boy answered pointedly.

"I think that you should be slightly more mindful of people's feelings, especially as you are aware of what I feel about-" 

 

The sentence's sad fate was not to be completed, as Jimmy leant over, placing his gloved hands on Thomas' s cheeks and kissing him softly.


End file.
